Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 February 8

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From today's featured article

Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) is an animated short film by American cartoonist Winsor McCay (c. 1867–1934). He first used the film before live audiences as an interactive part of his vaudeville act: the frisky, childlike Gertie did tricks at the command of her master. His employer, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, later curtailed McCay's vaudeville activities, so McCay added a live-action introductory sequence to the film for its theatrical release. Gertie was the first film to use animation techniques such as keyframes, registration marks, tracing paper, the Mutoscope action viewer, and animation loops. Although Gertie is popularly thought to be the earliest animated film, it was McCay's third, and his earlier films were preceded by animation made at least as far back as J. Stuart Blackton's 1900 film The Enchanted Drawing. Gertie influenced the next generation of animators, including the Fleischer brothers, Otto Messmer, Paul Terry, and Walt Disney. McCay abandoned a sequel, Gertie on Tour (c. 1921), after producing about a minute of footage. Gertie is the best preserved of his films—others are lost or in fragments—and has been preserved in the US National Film Registry. (Full article...)

Recently featured: Hattie Jacques – 1952 Winter Olympics – Hillsboro, Oregon

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that the Roselius House (pictured) in Bremen, Germany, was completed in 1588 and is now a museum with items from the Middle Ages through the Baroque period?
... that Senator J. L. Carpenter's wife gave birth to Frankenstein?
... that Turner's painting The Fountain of Indolence is probably also The Fountain of Fallacy?
... that the upcoming video game Sonic Boom is designed specifically for Western audiences as part of a new, Westernized Sonic franchise?
... that the Bluecap Memorial in Cheshire commemorates a foxhound and is a listed building?
... that the Back to the Future musical is scheduled to première in the West End in 2015—the same year that Marty McFly and Doc Brown travelled to in Back to the Future Part II?
... that residents of Motspur Park feel that the London Buses route K5 should be more frequent?

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In the news

The Winter Olympics open in Sochi, Russia.
In American football, the Seattle Seahawks defeat the Denver Broncos to win Super Bowl XLVIII.
Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman (pictured) dies at the age of 46.
India's first monorail since independence, the Mumbai Monorail, is inaugurated.
Two previously unknown poems written by seventh-century BC Greek poet Sappho are discovered.
Scientists announce a new technique for creating stem cells.
Amidst ongoing anti-government riots, Ukrainian prime minister Mykola Azarov resigns.

Recent deaths: Ralph Kiner – Maximilian Schell – Arthur Rankin, Jr.

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On this day...

February 8: Prešeren Day in Slovenia

1575 – Leiden University, the oldest and highest-ranked university in the Netherlands, was founded by William, Prince of Orange.
1879 – At a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute, engineer and inventor Sandford Fleming (pictured) first proposed the adoption of worldwide standard time zones based on a single universal world time.
1910 – Newspaper and magazine publisher William D. Boyce established the Boy Scouts of America, expanding the Scout Movement into the United States.
1960 – The first eight brass star plaques were installed in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
1979 – Denis Sassou Nguesso was chosen as the new President of the Republic of the Congo after Joachim Yhombi-Opango was forced from power.

More anniversaries: February 7 – February 8 – February 9

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It is now February 8, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

The Asfi Mosque, located near the Bara Imambara in Lucknow, India. Named for Asaf-ud-Daula, who ordered its construction, the mosque is regularly used for Friday prayers.

Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

Recently featured: Malacosoma neustria – Hubble Extreme Deep Field – Black-breasted Thrush

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